Another consequence of this being a Chinese-market car is that it’s not homologated for UK roads, so we had to make do with a few laps of the Goodwood Motor Circuit (hence there’s no star rating). To absolutely no one’s surprise, this 3.5-tonne off-roader feels quite out of its depth on a fast race track.
The suspension is some mysterious active system that uses hydraulic actuators to vary the ride height and spring rate, not entirely unlike the Porsche Active Ride system on the Porsche Panamera and Taycan. It has normal coil springs and anti-roll bars, though, because air springs can allegedly burst when you jump the car. No one was able to explain in detail how it works, but it’s certainly not as spectacular as the Porsche system. The U8 never felt perilously close to falling over, but neither did I feel it do very much to disguise its weight. Equally, the smooth track surface felt weirdly knobbly.
It’s pretty quick, if not quite 1180bhp quick, and it sometimes throttled back during testing. I’m not sure whether that was the traction control trying to keep things orderly or because the battery is not up to delivering all that power continuously. The engine is pretty quiet when it kicks in, though.
